Monday, August 01, 2016

Welcome to the Blue, Josh Reddick!

Today is trade deadline day, and naturally the Dodgers are at the forefront of every rumor. Typically, nothing comes about, and I expected that this evening would pass without anything significant coming to Los Angeles.

Boy... Was I wrong.

The Dodgers have made the first big move of the day by acquiring an veteran outfielder and starting pitcher. Today, the Dodgers have acquired Josh Reddick and Rich Hill in exchange for three minor leaguers. Per a report by Doug Padilla at ESPN, pitchers Grant Holmes, Jharel Cotton and Frankie Montas are going to the A's.

So, the Dodgers have traded three good pitching prospects for a couple of '16 season rentals for a World Series run. Both Reddick and Hill are free agents at the end of the year. Also, Josh Reddick is a right fielder, so this move potentially puts Yasiel Puig in play for a trade out of town.

As for what Reddick brings to the Dodgers, he is one of the better all-around outfielders in the game. He won a gold glove in 2012. Per Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider:

The 29-year-old Reddick has a career-high .368 on-base percentage and 124 OPS+ this year in 272 plate appearances for Oakland. (He missed five weeks after fracturing his left thumb on a slide May 19.) His 121 weighted runs created is 12th among MLB right fielders.

Against right-handed pitching, Reddick has a .955 OPS this season.

Overall this season, he is slashing .296/.368/.449/.816. In late May he fractured his left thumb and returned from the DL on June 28th. Since that time, in a span of a little over a month, he has been slashing .258/.327/.423/.750.

UPDATE: I thought I would also briefly add that Josh is a huge wrestling fan. Last year he wrote a fantastic piece at The Players' Tribune expressing his love for the sport. Check that out here.

In celebration of Josh coming up to the Dodgers I made the
above fantasy Baseball card of him. I used a photo grabbed from Zimbio/Christian Petersen/Getty Images and the 1974 Topps Baseball card design.

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